Butter vs Margarine

[Justine Cooper]

Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten turkeys. When it killed the turkeys, the people who had put all the money into the research wanted a payback so they put their heads together to figure out what to do with this product to get their money back. It was a white substance with no food appeal so they added the yellow coloring and sold it to people to use in place of butter. How do you like it? They have come out with some clever new flavorings.

DO YOU KNOW the difference between margarine and butter?

Read on to the end...gets very interesting!

Both have the same amount of calories.

Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams compared to 5 grams.

Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study.

Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods.

Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few only because they are added!

Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavors of other foods.

Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years.

And now, for Margarine..

Very high in trans fatty acids.

Triple risk of coronary heart disease.

Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) and lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol).

Increases the risk of cancers up to five fold.

Lowers quality of breast milk.

Decreases immune response.

Decreases insulin response.

And here's the most disturbing fact.... HERE IS THE PART THAT IS VERY INTERESTING!

Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC..

This fact alone was enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is added, changing the molecular structure of the substance).

You can try this yourself:

Purchase a tub of margarine and leave it in your garage or shaded area. Within a couple of days you will note a couple of things:

* no flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it (that should tell you something)

* it does not rot or smell differently because it has no nutritional value; nothing will grow on it Even those teeny weeny microorganisms will not a find a home to grow. Why? Because it is nearly plastic. Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on your toast?

Share This With Your Friends.....(If you want to "butter them up")!

[dl meckes]

Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC..

The problem with this statement is that it is a scare tactic and junk "science".

From Snopes,
"These types of statements (even if they were true) are essentially meaningless. Many disparate substances share similar chemical properties, but even the slightest variation in molecular structure can make a world of difference in the qualities of those substances."

http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/butter.asp

[Jeff Endress]

Justine

What we now know as margarine was originally called OLEO. It was developed in the mid 1800's became widely accepted during WWI, when rationing made real butter hard to obtain. I'm not sure where your info came from, but margarine in made from various vegetable oils (corn, safflower, etc.) in emulsion with water. The specific preparation of hydrogenation will affect the transfat and HDL.

Further info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarine

Whether It's better or worse than butter is really an issue of specific comparisons with specific brands.....really neither is good.

Olive oil is a far better choice.

Jeff

[Justine Cooper]

I was hoping someone could shed light -I got this in an email. From what I have read, butter is not that bad for you like some people say. It is all I put on my toast and cooking with, except olive oil. The trans fat in margarine is scary but we do get that newer spread without the transfat for some food!

[Jeff Endress]

Justine

I once got an email about Mr. Rogers being a navy seal, responsible for multiple "hits" during Vietnam, who wore that cardigan to cover up arms full of tatoos....The web is great for creating and spreading urban myths.

No doubt that trans fats, animal fats, processed foods, hydrogenation, etc. are bad things. I still use butter, limited, but for flavor. I use EEOV.
THe link I provided probably contains more factual info on the margarine/butter debate. You could do the smae "open container" experiment with EEOV and get the same results.....

Jeff

[Justine Cooper]

Should I take down the topic then? I think margarine is so gross I don't use it anyway and I will never give up real butter! Do you believe what Atkins wrote about fats like butter and cheese actually being much healthier than people realize? I know trans fat is the real evil but I am not so sure about butter and cheese, etc!

[sharon kinsella]

I think that the flavor of real butter and the way it incorporates in recipes trumps margarine any day.

[Jeff Endress]

Justine

Leave it up....it makes for interesting starting point for the discussion! I tend to believe, ala Atkins, that eating natural, unprocessed and un adulterated foods is far better than chemically enhanced, refined and choc-full-o-additives. But within that spectrum, even some pure, natural, unadulterated foods aren't as healthy as we would like them to be. Animal fat being a chief culprit. But, given the choice between a natural animal fat (used in moderation) and a chemical substitute, I'll choose the animal fat any day.

Like Sharon said, when it comes down to the taste and recipe results, the real thing just works butter....er....better.

Jeff

[Lynn Farris]

We use EVOO more.

Is peanut butter safer? If you aren't alergic?

What about products like Shedd Spread?

Thanks for posting this Justine. You hear so much back and forth on which is safer.

[dl meckes]

I'm glad you posted it! This email has been around for two years.

Not all of what it says is wrong, but the parts that are wrong and really wrong!

I don't want to kill the messenger, just parts of the message!

And I prefer to use a little butter, but mostly olive oil.

[Phil Florian]

Parkay.